• Question: How come we cannot completly control our brains like just telling our brain to go to sleep or turnig are eyes on or off

    Asked by one23 to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 19 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      One for Melanie, I think!

    • Photo: Melanie Stefan

      Melanie Stefan answered on 19 Mar 2011:

      I think in some ways it’s a protective mechanism. For instance, because our eyes and ears aren’t turned off when we sleep, we will wake up if there is a loud noise or light. Which allows us to get up and run if there is a fire, for instance, or some other threat. So that’s probably why it’s good that our senses can “overrule” the brain if necessary.

    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 19 Mar 2011:

      That would so be useful in the middle of the night when I can’t get to sleep. There are some things that are voluntary and some things that are not. That is not to say that we cannot control things that people thought we never could. We now know that people can be taught to control their brains. Well, kind of. If I hook you up to something that measures brain waves and show them to you in some graphic form, you can then practice things for yourself and see the effects live! This practice would then help you to use the methods at home without the feedback. You can use feedback for relaxation, for slowing down your heart rate, and for lowering your blood pressure. Of course, some people are better at learning this than others.

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